Bitcoin's Long Year

What a year it’s been for Bitcoin. Scandal! Intrigue! Long-awaited acknowledgement by the Internal Revenue Service! Bitcoinworld has never been boring, but 2014 stood out as an especially eventful period in the digital currency’s short history. The year began in January when Bitcoin poster child Charlie Shrem was arrested for money laundering in connection with the digital drug marketplace Silk Road; it ended in December with him being sentenced to two years​ in jail . Shrem’s sentencing will make him the first notable Bitcoiner behind bars. Accused Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht and others affiliated with the site are still awaiting trial , and Trendon Shavers, Bitcoin’s version of Bernie Madoff, was only just ​arrested in November . That was just the beginning of the bad news. February brought the ign​ominious collapse of Mt. Gox , the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange,...